Emergency beacon owners across the country
now have a faster way to register and update their 406-megahertz distress
beacons – over the Internet. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) recently unveiled the next generation National
406 Megahertz Beacon Registration Database as a convenient, secure
way for beacon owners to provide their names, phone numbers and other
critical information directly over the Internet, instead of having
to mail or fax it. NOAA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

“We expect the online registration
to save beacon owners a great deal of time, and allow them to play
a more active role in a system that’s set up to rescue them
if the situation arises,” said Ajay Mehta, manager of the NOAA
Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) Program. “The
online capability enables beacon owners to update and manage their
registration. As this information changes over time, the new database
will remain up-to-date for alert signals sent by the U.S. Mission
Control Center to SAR agencies here in the U.S. and around the world.”

The NOAA SARSAT Program operates the
U.S. Mission Control Center from the NOAA Satellite and Information
Center in Suitland, Md. SARSAT is part of the international COSPAS-SARSAT
satellite search and rescue system, which uses NOAA and Russian satellites
to detect and locate distress signals sent from emergency beacons
carried aboard ships, aircraft and by individuals carrying Personal
Locator Beacons (PLBs).

Mehta
added the new, web-based registration system will meet the goals of
the Government Paperwork Elimination Act, by significantly cutting
the volume of paper registrations NOAA handles on a daily basis. By
law, all owners of PLBs and other types of 406-megahertz beacons,
called Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs), used
in the maritime industry and Emergency Locating Transmitters (ELTs),
used in the aviation industry, must register the potential life-saving
devices with NOAA.

Emergency beacon owners, who have already
registered with NOAA in the past, can access their previously provided
information and view it online. NOAA encourages beacon owners to update
any information that may be outdated, such as new phone numbers and
new emergency points of contact. Some owners, particularly companies
or organizations who have a large number of beacons, also have the
flexibility to update and manage their registration information via
the Beacon Block User capability.

NOAA’s
Satellite and Information Service is the nation’s primary source
of space-based meteorological and climate data. It operates the nation’s
environmental satellites, which are used for weather and ocean observation
and forecasting, climate monitoring and other environmental applications,
including sea-surface temperature, fire detection and ozone monitoring.
NOAA’s commercial licensing program draws on NOAA’s heritage
in satellite operations and remote sensing applications.

The Satellite and Information Service
also operates three data centers, which house global databases in
climatology, oceanography, solid Earth geophysics, marine geology
and geophysics, solar-terrestrial physics and paleoclimatology.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic
security and national safety through the prediction and research of
weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship
of America’s coastal and marine resources.

Additional
information on the new National 406 MHz Beacon Registration Database,
or on the SARSAT system in general, can be found at: http://www.sarsat.noaa.gov
or by calling: 1-888-212-SAVE (7283), or
301-457-5678.